Out of This Furnace is the best work by Thomas Bell. Slovak immigrants the Dobrejcak family’s three-generation story remains a remarkable achievement. Djuro Kracha’s bumbling career begins in the mid-1880s. His journey from the old country to the steel mills of Braddock, Pennsylvania, where he met and fell in love with another woman, is chronicled from New York to White Haven. Kracha’s daughter, Mary Dobrejcak, married steelworker Mike Dobrejcak and is the second generation to carry on the family name. Because of the inhumane working conditions in the mills, the children looked to their parents and grandparents for guidance and inspiration. His family would not be sacrificed to the mills when Dobie Dobrejcak was a young man in the 1920s. He played a key role in the successful unionization of the US steel industry after more than 50 years of struggle.
To tell the story of George Kracha’s immigration to the United States, Thomas Bell wrote the novel “Out of This Furnace,” which is based on a true story. After the civil war in Europe, a number of people attempted to flee to the United States, and their stories are intertwined in this novel. As they struggled to escape poverty and other hardships in their new country, the Slovak immigrants encountered many difficulties in their job search. In this novel, all of the characters face similar hardships, but poverty is the biggest obstacle. Thomas Bell has written about George Kracha, a character in the novel, and his journey to become an American citizen. In 1881, George and his family left Hungary for the United States. As soon as George and Zuska arrive in the United States, he loses his wife (Bell, 21). Upon arriving at his new home in Haven, he set out to find work in one of the local metal factories. Kracha began his career as a railroad worker before moving to Western Pennsylvania to work in the steel industry.
Kracha eventually quits his job at the steel mills and launches his own company. Kracha opens a meat market, which at first seemed to be doing well for him. Kracha’s meat business fails and he is bankrupted as a result of his poor decision-making. Most immigrants’ lives in the United States resembled George Kracha’s. There were only a few jobs available for immigrants in the factories and steel mills, which were dangerous places for them to work. George Kracha, despite the hardships of his life in the United States, does not regret his decision to migrate here.
Problems faced by recent immigrants
Kracha, like many other immigrants in the United States, faces many hardships and lives in poverty. Kracha faces a housing challenge upon arriving at his new home, as he had to build a house of his own. Kracha had to find a new home for his family after moving to the United States with them. Kracha had to come up with a solution to this problem because of the poor quality of life and lack of employment. For the sake of his family, Kracha decides to look for work. Kracha’s first job opportunity was working on the railroads, but he found it tedious and unfulfilling. Kracha’s family was struggling to find a place to live because the meager wages he earned working long days on the rails were barely enough to feed them.
Kracha and his family also had a hard time making ends meet because of their meager incomes. Kracha’s first job was on the railroads, where he recalls the hardships and long hours of work. Kracha’s initial expectations of financial reward from working long shifts on the railroads proved to be unfounded. This is the second time Kracha has talked about being forced to work long hours for low pay because he is an immigrant. Forcing immigrants to work and then paying them pitiful wages meant they couldn’t feed their families back home, says Kracha, who was one of those immigrants. This put Kracha in a difficult position, as he was the only breadwinner in the family. One of the reasons Kracha and his family lived in poverty was the pitiful wages they received working on the railroads. At one point, Kracha regrets his family’s decision to move to the United States.
Kracha and his family also had to deal with racial discrimination. Discrimination was a fact of life for Kracha and his family when they arrived in the United States. Whites showed a strong bias against immigrants in the workplace. Getting a job in the American economy was extremely difficult for immigrants. Immigrants were subjected to this type of discrimination. When Kracha was looking for work, he was subjected to such treatment. For those who were fortunate enough to land a job, the situation was even worse. They were only allowed to work in the most dangerous industries, such as mining and metalworking, because of their immigration status. He got his first job on the railroads, where Kracha worked for several years before moving on to other opportunities. Due to the low wages he earned after a long day of work, he couldn’t afford to feed his family. Kracha’s family suffered greatly because of this.
According to Bell’s account, George Kracha’s work in the steel mills was not particularly dangerous. Due to the poor working conditions, Kracha explains how their health was put at risk. As a result of Kracha’s exhaustion from working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, his health was in danger. Immigrant workers, primarily in metal milling factories, have fallen ill while on the job. Their employers were unable to cover the costs of their medical care when they fell ill as a result of their hazardous working conditions. Some workers were forced to leave their jobs because of the high levels of discrimination they faced in the workplace.
These three generations
In Thomas Bell’s novel, the story of the three generations of male workers is well-crafted. First-generation characters in this story include George Kracha and his family, who emigrate to the United States in search of better opportunities and greater freedom. A common thread that connects all three generations is their work location. To make a living, George, Mike, and Johnny all worked in steel mills. George Kracha’s daughter, who married Mike Dobrejcak, is the second generation. Mike worked in the steel industry. Kracha was not the only one to suffer in the factory, as Mike did as well. Due to the low wages they received, this made their lives miserable. Their lives became desperate as a result of the low wages and inhuman working conditions in the mills. Mike and Mary, Kracha’s daughter and son-in-law, were still grappling with this issue.
Steel mills saw a slight shift in working style when the third generation of male workers arrived. This was the Dobrejcak generation’s attempt to improve the treatment of migrant workers. Human sacrifice was no longer acceptable in the mills, according to Bell, and this generation was determined to change that. Workers in the mines of this generation fought for better working conditions and wages for all of them. As a result of this, immigrants would be able to fight back against the discrimination and dangerous working conditions they received from their employers. Dobrejcak wanted to ensure that all workers in the mills and factories received equal treatment and justice.
When it came to the steel mill work they were doing, each generation had a different take on it. Kracha objected to the immigrants’ inhumane working conditions. Kracha’s family couldn’t make ends meet on his meager wages. He left his steel mill job and started a meat-packing business as a result of this. He had a good run in the meat market until he made a series of bad decisions that brought it to a halt. Kracha’s daughter, who was married to Mike, also had a negative attitude toward her father’s steel mill job. In Mike’s opinion, the working conditions were inhumane and the wages were low for the immigrants.
Women live according to the book
Women who were married during the industrial era in the United States often had to work outside the home to help support their families, in addition to raising their children and maintaining the house. Her housework and children had to be taken care of while she worked these jobs, which made them even more taxing than her previous jobs in steel mills. The family’s income had to be supplemented by boarders like Franka’s in order to cover expenses like the high house rent. Even though she was sick in bed, she still had to care for her children and complete household tasks like cooking and laundry. Work had robbed her of her natural beauty and left her feeling drained and depleted of energy. It was because of her unattractive appearance that George no longer cared for her. Julie, the story’s luckiest character, didn’t have to work like her grandson’s wife. Due to her husband Dobie’s financial prowess, she could enjoy an improved lifestyle. Because of this, she became a full-time housewife at home to care for her children. In addition, the washing machine, a modern technological innovation, made it simpler for her to do the laundry. As a result of George’s lavish spending on Zulka’s birthday party, Zulka married George. Kracha, in addition to housing boarders, frequently gave her money. She had the same responsibilities as the other women in the story: taking care of her children and cleaning the house. Zulka started stealing money from George when their finances took a turn for the worse. Zulka later left him because he had beaten her and had been sentenced to prison. At the age of fifteen, Mary Dobrejcak was hired as a domestic servant by a wealthy family and worked there until she married Mike Dobrejcak. Keeping boarders in her home was a tradition that Mary inherited from her mother. “She couldn’t accept a job that required her to be away from home a lot because of the kids” (Bell,211). When Mike was killed in a steel mill accident, her life was forever altered. Despite her husband’s death, she was only compensated $75 by the steel mill company. Mary was compelled to do everything she could to make ends meet on the basis of her lone source of income. Consequently, she did the office cleaning of a Jew twice weekly. In addition to her job, she had to take care of her home and raise her kids.
Additionally, Out of This Furnace is a wonderful story that chronicles a violent and cruel period in our history. The novel’s prose is clear and direct, and it builds steadily to a satisfying, ultimately human conclusion. In addition, I think other readers would enjoy it as well. The plot moves along quickly because the events depicted in the book are based on actual events from the author’s own life. Even in today’s world, people are forced to flee their homes due to wars and other natural disasters, and the book makes the reader realize that this is a fact.
Conclusion
Treating foreigners in their new country is a marked contrast to how they are treated by the locals. Discrimination and poor treatment of strangers is common. In the 19th century, immigrants to the United States faced a number of difficulties as they attempted to integrate and provide for their families. People leave their home countries in search of better opportunities. An increase in the number of migrants is attributed to war and political instability in their home countries.
Works Cited
Alexander, June Granatir. “Out of This Furnace.” (1990): 137-139.
Bell, Thomas. Out of this furnace. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh Press, 1993. Print.
Page, Tom. “Out of This Furnace.” (1978): 83.
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